End-of-summer Wedding Dress Project

So I haven’t been sewing at all the last few weeks. None of the projects on my list have materialised. Not even the promised t-shirts. In a moment of weakness, I cheated and bought the same t-shirt model in a whole array of colors at M&S Mode. They were on sale. They were in the colors I wanted. Sue me.

I will make amends with you by saying that at least I’ve been thinking about sewing! In a earlier post, I mentioned embarking in a wedding dress project for the end of the summer. I am pleased to announce we – the bride and I – made some progress over the past weeks!

We first met over dinner a few weeks ago, so we can discuss her wishes and her vision of her wedding dress (and the wedding itself). She found this picture on the Internet and fell in love with the midnight blue color and the overall design:

My mission, if I wished to accept it, was to recreate this dress. We can only speculate about what the back looks like, but we decided it would be a slightly open back (to offer an interesting contrast to the higher neckline of the front).

Then we went fabric shopping. We were extremely lucky to find fabrics that were pretty close to the original, even though we actually have no idea what type of fabrics were used to make the original dress. Was the top made in a knit fabric? Is the skirt made of brocade? Here is what we found:

We picked a gorgeous poly/acetate crepe-back satin with a beautiful drape, in a perfect midnight blue color. I am planning on using the matte crepe side for the top of the dress, and use the satin side to make the belt/cummerbund. For the skirt, we found an embroidered taffeta in a light slate grey color. The flower embroidery is made of silver and dark blue thread, with iridescent sequins. For 2 euros per meter, it was a steal!

The next step will be to draft the basic pattern block and make the necessary fitting adjustments with a muslin or two (or more!), so I have the basis I need to draft the top of the dress. I’m really excited about this project – my very first self-drafted dress 🙂 More updates the coming weeks!

Hi Suz, thanks for your comment! Are your t-shirts with some gathers at the round neckline and some sort of a gathered sleeve? 😆 They were so inexpensive that I bought 4 colors. They’ll get me through the summer 😉